Question for lawyers (but not a legal question)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I haven’t worked in a law office for more than twenty years. When I did, the FAX machine and the dedicated word processor (anyone remember the DEC?) were the latest technology. Toward the end of my time, we had personal computers using Windows and Word Perfect, but we weren’t on-line. I think, but I’m not sure, we had access to Nexis (sp?) or Lexis, but we still looked up cases using law books, the state and federal reporters.

Legal filings were done by mail or in person. A messenger stopped by the office twice a day to pick up and deliver papers. The FAX was used mainly for document sharing with other attorneys, but (again IIRC) we had to follow up with originals.

So is it different now? Can you send motions and answer interrogatories via e-mail? Do you look up case law on the internet? Do you have to go to the courthouse to look at files or are they on line?

IOW, has the internet changed how you practice law?

2

Moved to IMHO from Great Debates.

3

Substantially changed it, yes, in some ways; in one key way, not at all.

The Court of Appeal in my province (Saskatchewan) has implemented e-filing: all documents must be filed electronically, and then any party to the appeal has e-access to them. (Non-parties can get an account that allows browsing, I believe, but not filing.) When the Court gives its decision, the Registrar e-mails it to all parties. No paper copy to follow. The other courts don’t have that system, but I understand they’re looking at it.

Exchange of documents increasingly is done by pdf’s attached to e-mails. We have to agree with opposing counsel to use this approach, but as a matter of practice, it’s becoming the most common way to serve documents, other than initiating documents, like a Statement of Claim - those are still served in person.

Research has changed completely - I used to be a regular at the Court house library; now, the only time I go there is when I need some quiet time to work on a file, or they have a book I don’t have. But for statutes and case reporter series, it’s all on Westlaw/Carswell, or a competitor, Quicklaw, or a free service operated by the Law Societies, CANLII. I recently did a major brief working entirely in my own office. Now, I’m a bit of a dinosaur, and once I’ve found a lengthy case, I find that browsing it in a book is easier, but I don’t think my younger colleagues do that.

The e-versions are so prevalent that the Supreme Court of Canada has announced that it will stop printing the Supreme Court Reports - the official reports will be the e-versions.

Noting up a case (I think down south you call it “shepparding” or something) is tremendously improved, as all of the e-services have a “case cited” function; find a case you’re interested in, click on the “cited” button, and you get a list of how that case has been cited by other courts, whether it’s been overruled, and so on. Same for statutes; can use the search/cite functions to find out exactly when and where s. 43(1)(b) of an Act has been considered by the courts.

Oh, and I do almost all my own documents on my own computer now - I used to hand-write, and give them to my secretary, and she’d type a draft, and I’d proof-read the draft, and then give it back to her, and … you get the picture. Now, I do most of my own typing.

Remote access from home is an amazing thing. We’ve got a little guy, and I hate going into the office on weekends or evenings. Now, I don’t need to; for the most part, I can do whatever I need to do from my home computer, or by bringing my work laptop home for the secure access to files.

So, I’d say technology has completely changed the physical way I do my work.

However, the one key thing that hasn’t changed is the thinking piece. All of this technology helps me to find law quicker, to search it quicker, to share it quicker. The most important part, though, is thinking about it. And that’s not changed at all by technology.

4

It depends on the court. The federal courthouse in my area only takes online filings; it won’t accept any other type of filing. From what I hear, it’s a bit ahead of the curve, so this is still a bit unusual.

I’ve only worked in small legal offices, but a secretary always announces when she is going to the post office for this sort of reason, and it’s at least once a day.

Faxes are still great because they combine quick delivery with solid evidence of delivery confirmation. We use e-mail a lot, but when you need that confirmation that you can show a court, it doesn’t beat a fax.

At least with the court I practice in, motions go through the court’s website.

The first place to start legal research is often google.com . Unless you’re at a pretty big firm, books still have a certain value over Lexis and Westlaw, simply because those searches are still very expensive. It depends on the databases you use, but a simple search can easily cost over $100. Hope you got your search terms exactly right on the first try!

5

I should note that I’ve heard that the Canadian on-line research tools are considerably cheaper than the US ones. I don’t know why that should be, but certainly it’s a surprise nowadays to see a photocopy of a case in a Book of Authorities, rather than a print-out from an e-service, regardless of the size of the firm.

6

I am a strange creature. I came to the bar in the era of E-databases. I prefer books. I don’t get a headache and I can avoid what I call the battle of the “search terms”. OTH, you will take my online citation checker and encyclopaedia of forms and precedents over my dead body.

As an aside, Northern Piper, when does time stop for the purposes of limitation in your e-filings? In mine ,you can file and upload anytime of day or night, but most annoyingly you have to have filed before 4 pm for limitation to stop.
The High Court has started issuing summons vide texts message, which is both very convenient and an abomination unto god.

7

Ak for discussion purposes;
For the Northern District of Ohio, U.S Court, clerk’s web page;

…The Office of the Clerk shall be open for filing from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the locations of court…

8

In terms of legal research, using case reporter books is practically unknown any more. Many law graduates have only a sketchy idea of how you would do that. My legal research prof forced us to do one assignment without using Lexis or Westlaw, and this was considered a quint task, like churning your own butter.

At my old job we sometimes look up local statutes using the books, but only because using Lexis for that particular material was awkward, and sometimes out of date.

Edited: I have never known a law firm not to have an unlimited plan, even sole practitioners. You can get “just your state, plus your federal circuit” for a very reasonable fee.

9

Paralegal here. We don’t have e-filing here in Wyoming yet, so all pleadings are filed in person or mailed. Wyoming has such a small population that attorneys often take cases in different counties, so mail is still the #1 way to file. Same with serving discovery, although that can be e-mailed or faxed too.

Email is the #1 way that attorneys communicate with each other, which is nice for the speed but also means you have to have your phone practically stapled to your forehead, even on vacations.

Although I was taught how to do research using law books, I don’t know anyone who still uses them - it’s all LexisNexis or Westlaw.

10

Another paralegal here, with answers substantially the same as SaharaTea’s, although we do almost exclusive e-filing in federal court. LA County’s court system is still largely paper filings.

We usually schedule our messenger service through their website. We login, and we just pick the court(s) from a drop-down list, and they store our internal reference numbers. Makes it really quick and easy.

Most of our discovery (both in criminal and civil cases) is served electronically. For small cases, it’s often email. In larger cases, we will sometimes just get a hard drive delivered to us. When we get audio recordings that we want transcribed, we just email them or upload them to our in-house business center or to an outside vendor to have it done. Deposition and trial transcripts are stored in online databases that allow for very easy searching, creating designations, etc.

As for legal research, this firm has about 500 attorneys in it, and I know of almost none who still use the physical reporters. We have contracts with both Lexis’s and Westlaw’s online services.

Most court files can be viewed and retrieved online (except for LA County criminal – grr), but this can vary greatly by local jurisdiction.

11

I have a flat rate plan with Lexis that gives me unlimited searches of materials in my state, as well as applicable federal materials, including SCOTUS opinions. There are additional charges if I chose to view a document or conduct a search outside of my pricing plan, but I get a warning with the cost before I click.

Otherwise, in my area, all Federal filings, except civil complaints, are made electronically. A handful of counties have also started pilot electronic filing programs in the State courts.

Exchange of documents between attorneys varies…most lawyers of my generation or younger use email with PDF attachments, but some of the big firms and older guys still send hard copies in the mail.

12

Ha! Thanks. I had intended it for GQ but I guess my eyes aren’t what they used to be.

One of my tasks was putting updates in the pockets of the reporter books – pocket parts, I think they were called. This was before recyling was common, and a lot of paper was wasted.

So are the law book publishers hurting for business? Do new lawyers still maintain a library?

Have there been any issues with altering e-documents? How about notarizing? Electronic signatures are accepted?

13

Nope. None of the lawyers I know that have opened offices recently bother with maintaining a library. A few still buy a copy of the State code…mostly because the books look nice and “lawyerly” as office decorations.

I’m also a notary. In the local federal courts, certain documents need to be personally signed and/or notarized by the parties. When that happens, a hard copy is signed before a notary in the traditional manner, then it is scanned and filled electronically along with a statement that the lawyer retains the original as custodian thereof. E-signatures are accepted for anything I sign as an attorney for a party.

I have an id/password to the electronic filing systems for several federal courts–not sure why each district and bankruptcy court feel the need to have separate systems, but they do. Anything filed under my id is directly traceable to me, and I’m responsible for it.

14

Is your work easier now?

Are the new procedures saving on expenses?

Are costs to clients down? It looks like many things that used to be charged to clients are done electronically now.

15

The first and last time I ever Shepardized anything using the books was in Legal Research class.

On journal, we were required physically to look at a printed publication when cite-checking. Including such exotica as rulings of some Australian tax court, which were otherwise slowly decaying in the sub-basement of my campus’s main library.

In the real world, nobody would be so indulgent. If you billed the hours to take on these tasks, they would be written off without a second thought (and perhaps some discussion about appropriate use of time).

Jurisdiction-establishing service is still done in person, and my sense is that for motion practice, email is still formally supplementary to mail or fax service on the other parties (even if only an electronic version is filed with the court). That is, an email is sent transmitting the document, and this satisfies everybody concerned, but a hard copy is also sent as a follow-up and for CYA purposes.

Electronic research can be assigned to a matter number for billing purposes.

16

So are you almost paper-less? We were forever adding file cabinets, and file cabinet space, while space for staff kept shrinking. :slight_smile:

17

Somewhat. Anything I can file electronically or send via email is something I don’t have to mail, which saves on postage, office supplies, and time. It’s not a huge amount of savings, but every little bit helps in a small office.

I’m not almost paperless, but I’m using a lot less paper than I did a few years ago.

18

In Florida, every court was required to go to an e-filing system as of this year. Electronic service is an option but not mandatory.

I work in workers’ compensation; the administrative tribunal that handles Florida WC claims has prohibited non-electronic filing since 2010 (it’s often used as a testbed for such things in the circuit courts, though it’s not part of the judicial branch.) This year they added an electronic service option for documents which are filed; service is also allowed by e-mail, mail and fax. Service is only required upon counsel for represented parties; they parties need not be served directly unless they are unrepresented.

Even service of the initial Petition for Benefits (the equivalent of a complaint) is now allowed by e-mail. All insurers licensed to write WC policies in Florida are required to keep an e-mail address registered with the state for e-service. Employers have to be served via certified mail for initial Petitions, though.

19

My firm is definitely not paperless since we still mail and hand-file our pleadings. In addition, our attorneys still need paper files when they’re in court. But after a matter is completed we do scan the whole file and shred it, so that saves some storage space.

I wish we could go totally paperless, because as a paralegal having to scan everything that comes in as well as maintain paper files makes my job harder. It also takes away from billable time because those are clerical duties. But we’re a small firm in a small town.

20

Trials have changed too. When I started we took the key exhibits to a print shop and made huge blow ups. And spent all night highlighting with giant highlighters. Now, all exhibits are stored (and exchanged) electronically and protected on monitors or screens in the courtroom. PowerPoint is common, and sometimes used effectively.